In honour of Mental Health Day around the world here’s a handful of television commercials from Farmer’s Insurance. The USA insurance group in 2007 used four television commercials to offer support for the sanity of people affected by damage to their homes and cars.
In “Stolen Car” a man’s mind starts to play tricks on him when he discovers that his car has been stolen. Click on the image below to play the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIknza0XlDc
In “Head Wind” a woman (played by stuntwoman Peipei Yuan), whose house has just suffered extensive wind damage, carries the stress with her throughout the day. Papers and office equipment fly around her at the office. She fights her way against massive wind in the hallway as her hair blows wildly. The mental anguish is so great she’s thrown against a wall in the middle of a conference room. Click on the image below to play the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fInL1RqIIKk
In “Morning Ritual” a couple spend their day looking for the comforts of home, relying on public facilities. As the wife bathes in a public water fountain the husband brushes his teeth in a lawn sprinkler. They rest their weary bones in a mattress store until they are kicked out and must sleep in a park underneath the stars. The ad then asks the question, ‘Where will you live after a house fire?’ Click on the image below to play the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py9uhZpo4DU
In “Commute” a woman whose car was recently in an accident must find creative means for getting to work. This involves hurdling fences in her neighbourhood, surfing on top of a cement truck, leaping off of a bridge and landing in a car that won’t start and getting a lift from a policeman on horseback, among other creative modes of transportation.
Credits
The Farmers Insurance HelpPoint Mental Disruption campaign was developed at Campbell-Ewald by executive creative director Debbie Karnowsky, associate creative director Chip Kettering, senior copywriter John Dolab, agency executive producer John Haggerty.
Filming was shot by director Noam Murro via Biscuit Filmworks with executive producers Shawn Lacy Tessaro and Eric Stern, and co-producer Jay Veal.
VFX for the Head Wind, Morning Ritual and Stolen Car were developed at Animal Logic, Sydney, by VFX supervisor Nick Ponzoni, VFX producer Nerissa Kavanagh, VFX production coordinator Kate Stenhouse, Lead compositor Nick Ponzoni, senior compositors Leoni Willis, Angus Wilson, Kim Fogelberg, compositor Howard Hill, assistant compositor Jodi Tyne, lead Shake compositor Vaughn Arnup, Shake compositors Charlie Armstrong, Laura Dubsky, Jamie Nimmo, (Pneumonics) director Toby Grime, 3D lead Feargal Stewart, 3D artists Paul Braddock, David Hyde, Paul Perrott, Bhakar James, Sandy Sutherland, Sotiris Bakosis, 3D artist (Pneumonics) Tristan North, and colorist (Commute) Eric Whipp.
Animal Logic’s work on the Morning Ritual project included online, signage removal and cleanup. The Head Wind project required showing the wind as completely engulfing the woman at every turn while no one around her is remotely affected. This involved split screen and green screen work, as well compositing in additional flying loose papers, debris and hurling office equipment. The Commute spot involved extensive rig removal, doing additional shots on green screen, then compositing in the various takes to make one seamless sequence.
Animal Logic created pneumonics befitting each individual storyline. For ‘Morning Ritual’, the logo ignites and burns to the ground. In ‘Commute’ the logo revs around the screen, crashes and is repaired. For ‘Head Wind’, the letters of the logo blow away.
Visual effects for Stolen Car were developed at Method Studios, by a team led by executive VFX producer Neysa Horsburgh and head of production Sue Troyan.
Sound and music for the Morning Ritual spot were the responsibility of Nylon Studios, Sydney, including composer Johnny Green.